Loved
by booogiepop
Summary: "Do you have any of my memories?" Her smile faded before reappearing with a hint of laughter. "Do you remember how it feels to fly?" Pearl finds a mystery videotape labelled only "For Amethyst and Pearl".


Pearl crept between the mounds of rubbish and treasures that filled Amethyst's cavernous room, her face determined yet wrinkled with distaste. She was on a mission, and for once, it wasn't because one of her swords had gone suspiciously missing. No, the Glass of Time, which Garnet had entrusted to her for safekeeping, had disappeared from behind one of her secret waterfalls. She didn't suspect Amethyst was to blame. The unruly gem was a prankster, that much was certain, but Pearl knew she wouldn't steal something so important just to rile her up. Besides, she was confident she had hidden it too well for Amethyst to find. No, practical jokes aside, if anything in the temple went missing, chances were it had found its way to Amethyst's room. That's just the way things were.

She felt a pang of guilt. Maybe Amethyst had a point when she swore ignorance to half the things of Pearl's that ended up in her room. She ought to apologise soon. But although Pearl didn't blame Amethyst for this particular mishap, she didn't fancy Amethyst catching her in her room uninvited. So she continued to tiptoe carefully through what she was steadily becoming more and more certain was some sort of obstacle course. She vaguely wondered if Amethyst had built it to dissuade her from visiting, or for her own amusement.

A twinge of sadness. Pearl frowned. Why should that thought bother her?

She was almost prepared to risk disgrace and ask one of the others if they had seen it before something caught her eye. Buried inside a formidable tower of junk electronics, she saw the gleam of something small and round, and reflective, like glass. That had to be the hourglass!

"Oh, finally," sighed Pearl in relief. Delicately, she worked her fingers through the gap between a ruined television and a plastic bag bursting with old discs, and gently began to pull the glass orb out.

She frowned. It certainly was wedged in there. She tugged it again, gently at first, but with dwindling patience. Eventually her frustration won out, and she gave it a mighty pull with both hands. At last she managed to free the treasure – but had only a moment to bask in her victory before she noticed the entire tower of rubbish was wobbling dangerously. She had time to take a single step back, then it was on top of her.

"Ow…"

Fortunately for Pearl, the core of that particular rubbish heap – the broken television sets and microwaves – had stayed largely in place, and only the looser, lighter components on the outside had toppled over. The most pain she was in was a sharp stinging in her left hand. Remaining on her back, she looked over to see the dirty light bulb she'd freed had shattered, and was pricking her. She moaned in frustration and stuck her cut hand in her mouth, glad no one had witnessed that particular embarrassment.

By now, of course, Pearl was quite ready to call it a day, and had just picked herself up and was dusting herself off before looking up in alarm at the sound of a clatter. But the mound of junk had settled. One last item had fallen out of whatever nook it had been caught in for however long, and slid for a moment across the floor. It was a videotape.

It was utterly unassuming, no different from the other ancient videos littering Amethyst's room. Yet something compelled Pearl to lean down and pick it up. She spent a moment turning it over before catching sight of the handwritten label.

'For Amethyst and Pearl'.

Pearl's eyes widened. She had never seen this before. Between the words 'for' and 'Amethyst', a word had been begun then scribbled out. She thought she could make out the letter O, and then B, or perhaps P. But this provided no clue as to what this tape could be. She felt a slow brewing excitement, followed by an inexplicable apprehension. Here, in the depths of Amethyst's den, a mystery tape, intended for her – no, for her and Amethyst.

She was still slightly worried about the hourglass – a concern fully pushed to the back of her mind by curiosity. She decided what to do.

* * *

"So, what's this about, Pea?"

Amethyst was lounging in the living room where Pearl had requested they meet.

"Do I really need a particular reason to want to see you?" asked Pearl. However, she was giving a slight smile at the use of her old nickname based off her initial.

Amethyst guffawed. It wasn't completely kind. "Knowing you, yeah. 'Specially these days. It's been, what, how long?"

Pearl was hurt. But she steeled herself, and forged on.

"All right, fine. I did have a reason for calling you here. I was looking in your room, and…"

Amethyst leapt up. "What were you doing in my room?"

Pearl took a breath. "I was looking for the Time Glass! I lost it, and thought it might be in your room. You know my things sometimes slip down there. I'm sorry I didn't ask for your permission, but I thought I'd just be in and out. May I continue?"

"Oh." Amethyst was surprised by Pearl's ready admission, not to mention mollified. "Yeah. Sure."

"Anyway, I was looking for the Glass when I found… this." She produced the tape with a flourish, showing it to Amethyst, who chortled.

"This is what got you all excited? Never thought you were one for TV, Pea… huh?" Amethyst leant forward, reading the label. "For Amethyst and Pearl? What's this?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. This is the first time I've seen this. Are you sure you don't know what this is? It was in your room."

Amethyst shrugged. "Mystery to me, Pearl. You said it yourself, junk winds up in my place all the time." She gave an excited grin. "Wanna watch it?"

She couldn't put her finger on why, but Pearl had misgivings about the strange tape. "Do you suppose we should tell Garnet?"

"What? Nah! Come on, it literally has our names on it! As if we need to ask Garnet first. Besides, do we even know where she's gone? Come on, gimme!" Amethyst snatched the tape from Pearl's hands and raced up the stairs to Steven's old bedroom, where their television set remained. "Movie night!"

"Amethyst!" cried Pearl in exasperation. "Hold on!"

By the time Pearl had reached the top of the stairs, Amethyst was bouncing on the large cushion in front of the screen, loading the tape into the video player. She grabbed Pearl and pulled her down beside her, shushing her protests as static filled the screen, before beginning to clear up.

A familiar young voice. "Ready?"

Pearl felt as though her heart had leapt into her throat. She turned her head a crack and saw Amethyst's grin had frozen on her face. That was Steven's voice – he sounded so young. He must have still been a child. It looked as though he was holding the camera – an old, handheld thing. It was pointed at the beach. And in full focus, her wild her fluttering in the breeze, was Opal.

She was standing on two hands, upside-down. In her bare feet she held her bow and arrow, pointing to the left. The camera panned to the side to reveal Garnet, standing steadfast with her arms folded and a red apple on her head.

"Ready!"

Pearl's heart jumped again, and Amethyst shivered. They hadn't heard that lush, gentle voice in so long. Opal's voice.

The camera quickly returned to Opal, who was grinning fiercely in concentration, her eyes narrowed. It was obvious what stunt she was about to attempt. Her arms were perfectly still as they supported her whole body. Then – slowly – she lifted one hand off the ground, supporting her whole self with just one arm. The camera heaved slightly as Steven gave an excited gasp.

There was a sharp twang as Opal loosed the arrow. The camera spun to follow it, getting Garnet into focus just in time to see the apple split into two neat halves tumbling over either side of her head. She smiled and gave a single thumbs-up.

"Woo-hoo!" The camera was set into the sand, pointing upwards and forwards, allowing a view of Steven running forwards to prance around the now standing Opal, whose face was flushed with victory. "That was amazing, Opal!"

"Nice shot." Garnet walked into the frame holding one of the pieces of apple. She held it towards Steven, who grinned and reached forward before the scene abruptly ended, returning to static.

"Huh?" Pearl could hear the tension in Amethyst's voice. "I don't get it…"

The tape cut back into footage, equally abruptly. This scene was in worse condition. Through the grain, Pearl and Amethyst could make out the image of a sleeping baby in a crib. Even though there was only one person who it could have been, they recognised him immediately. Pearl realised that the video was several pieces of footage taped together.

"Hello, Steven," cooed a voice. In the state the video was in, it sounded like a rush of white noise shaped into words, yet still recognisable as Pearl's. The camera rose slightly to reveal Pearl and Amethyst's smiling faces, leaning over the crib, close together.

"Hey, little guy." Amethyst's rough voice was full of emotion. "Do you think he's gotten bigger?"

"It's only been a week." That was Garnet. She must have been holding the camera. Her low voice was the hardest to hear above the ambient noise of the corrupted audio. "D'you think humans grow that fast?"

There, the tape seemed to skip some time – though whether a few moments were lost, or several minutes, was impossible to say. Garnet never received a reply, and Pearl and Amethyst were in different positions.

"I think it's about time we introduced the others." Garnet's voice again. "It's only fair, Ruby and Sapphire got to meet him. What do you say Steven meets Opal?"

At this, the on-screen Amethyst and Pearl laughed nervously and looked at each other, blushing slightly, but smiling. They took each other's hand and led themselves away from the crib. The camera readjusted slightly, keeping them in frame. They danced – slowly, quietly, to avoid waking Steven. They ended in a tight hug, and soft light filled the screen, and then faded.

"Opal," said Garnet in greeting. "Come meet Steven."

Opal gently approached the sleeping infant. Her mouth trembled, and tears were trickling down her face. She leaned over the crib. She appeared to be talking, but her words were lost. There was no sound except for a harsh humming as the image on the screen deteriorated back into gravelly static.

The next scene was brief. A very young Steven was sitting on the floor, surrounded by scribble-covered pieces of paper. He was leaning over a sheet, deep in concentration as he scrawled with crayons. There was no one else present.

A voice giggled. Pearl's.

"What are you drawing, Steven?"

Steven continued to draw for a few moments, and then look up and held up the paper. A cream-coloured stick person with orange hair was holding hands with a round purple one.

"Op'l!" he said proudly.

The next scene began with no transition. Opal, Garnet, Steven, Connie, Greg, and Priyanka Maheswaran were sat at a table outside a restaurant. Connie and Steven seemed to be teenagers, or perhaps in their early twenties. Their parents' hair was beginning to grey.

"Is this on?" came a worried voice. Pearl and Amethyst recognised it as Mr. Maheswaran's, and the camera began to swerve at random as though whoever was holding it wasn't paying any attention to what they filmed. "Does the light mean it's on? I'm not sure I know how to use this…"

"Just take the picture, dad," sighed Connie before turning to the gem seated next to her. Opal was absentmindedly munching on a breadstick.

"Not during the photo!" Connie's voice was half scolding, half laughter. "That's your fourth!"

"You do remember what happened last time you overate when Amethyst and Pearl took you out to dinner, don't you, Opal?" Garnet wasn't wearing her shades, and her eyes were twinkling with merriment. Opal swallowed a last unreasonably sized piece of bread before daintily covering her mouth with a napkin in embarrassment.

"Oh, give it to me, dear!" Priyanka stood up and took the camera, briefly blotting out the screen with her hand. The image blurred as she spun the camera around in her hands, catching a quick glimpse of her unimpressed face.

"Oh, for goodness – dear, you've got it set to video, not camera – what did you –!"

Pearl and Amethyst caught a snatch of Opal protesting that it wasn't her fault the breadsticks were free before the sound of Connie and Steven laughing drowned her out. The camera trained onto the table and went in and out of focus to the sound of someone flicking buttons. Then the scene ended.

More scenes followed. All involved either Opal or Pearl and Amethyst in some way. There was a music video of Greg's, featuring Opal playing a guitar in each pair of hands. There was Steven taking Opal to the fair, filming her win an archery competition and laugh as spun plates on each of her four hands to a gaggle of admirers. There was a short scene consisting of Pearl and Amethyst's backs as they sat together by the cliffside. It abruptly ended when Pearl happened to turn around, and made a most undignified spluttering sound when she saw the camera. The screen went black. Pearl wondered who was filming.

The screen remained black for so long that the two viewers might have wondered if the videotape had finished, but the screen came to life once more. This time it was Opal holding the camera, pointing it towards her own face as her arms stretched by either side of the screen. It was the first scene where she was alone.

"Dear Amethyst and Pearl," she said. She spoke slowly. "How are you?" She was smiling. There was something sad in it.

"Do you remember?" There was a long pause, as though she didn't know how to proceed. "Do you have… any of my memories?" Her smile faded before reappearing with a hint of laughter. "Do you remember how it feels to fly?"

Opal didn't talk for a while, choosing instead to simply gaze at the camera with a slight smile.

"Neither of you might remember, but I do. The first time you formed me. We – I – ran and ran and ran. I leapt and did cartwheels. When you unfused, you talked about it for hours. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world. It still is."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. They were sparkling when they reopened.

"That's how I feel. That's how you two feel, when – when you're me. When you're together. Have you forgotten that?"

Opal's smile grew bittersweet.

"I don't mind if you have. I'm forgetful too." She laughed, as though realising what she had just said, then quickly grew solemn once more. "I forget how you feel when you're apart."

"I'm making this video – and this tape – because I think, someday, you might need help remembering. How it feels to be so whole, so at peace. How it feels to be in love with yourself, and who you are. How it feels to be so close, in perfect balance with the one – with the one you love. In case you've forgotten that too."

"You deserve to remember all that. So, please – don't forget me. You deserve to feel loved."

Suddenly, her head whipped to the side, looking over her shoulder. Garnet was calling Amethyst's name. Her voice was muffled, as though coming from a distance, but Opal's eyes were still wide with alarm. The camera shook as she quickly turned back to face the screen.

"You are loved."

The tape ended.

Amethyst didn't know how long she stared at the black screen for. She eventually mustered the courage to turn her stiff body towards Pearl.

Pearl was staring at her, mouth half open. Her eyes were full of tears.

"…Pearl?"

Pearl made a noise in her throat and practically collapsed forward, wrapping her arms around Amethyst in a tight hug. She was weeping into Amethyst's shoulder.

Amethyst froze before surrendering herself to the embrace, finally allowing the hot tears to trickle down her face.

"I'm sorry," gasped Pearl. "I'm sorry."

Amethyst gave a small, husky chuckle. "Why – why are you sorry, Pea?"

"I haven't been myself. It's my fault we drifted apart. I haven't been well lately."

"Don't say that. It was my fault too. We both forgot, just like – just like Opal said."

Pearl sniffed, and then withdrew her face from Amethyst's neck.

Amethyst tried a grin. She wiped the tears from Pearl's cheek. "Hey, what do you say we – what do you say give Opal some fresh air? I think we owe Opal one, right?"

Pearl managed a watery smile.

"I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."


End file.
